The present invention relates to sheet feeding mechanisms and more particularly to an adjustable indexing roller assembly for sheet feeding mechanisms.
In current sheet feeding mechanisms, printed paper sheets are fed from one machine to another or from one portion of a machine to another portion of the machine. In such sheet feeding mechanisms, sheets are accumulated in a stack and then fed one by one from the bottom of the stack to another portion of the machine so that other functions may be performed on the sheets. It is important that the sheets be fed one-by-one so that the mechanism for feeding the sheets one-by-one from a stack must be accurately positioned to feed a single sheet only. In existing machines the mechanism for controlling the feeding of the sheets are complex and difficult to adjust accurately. In addition, the sheets are moved at high speed from the bottom of the stack so that there is danger of smudging the printed sheets.
The present invention avoids these problems and has for one of its objects the provision of an improved adjustable indexing roller assembly which can be easily adjusted to control the feeding of a single sheet from the bottom of a stack.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improved adjustable indexing roller assembly the height of which can be easily adjusted to accommodate different thicknesses of paper being fed.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improved indexing roller assembly in which a worn bearing surface on the indexing roller may be easily replaced with a new bearing surface without dismantling the indexing roller assembly.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improved indexing roller assembly which is simple to operate.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improved indexing roller assembly which is inexpensive to manufacture and maintain.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improved indexing roller assembly in which the possibility of smudging the printed sheets as they are being fed is minimized or eliminated.
Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, or will be indicated in the appended claims and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.